Mobile Insurance

Do you need mobile phone insurance?  A mobile phone company plays on your fears to sell you the mobile phone insurance, but is this reasonable?  Are your fears founded when it comes to protecting your phone?  Some people think mobile phone insurance is an unnecessary expense, while others purchase the insurance and are most likely paying too much for it.  The following guide is going to walk you through whether you need the cover, what self insurance are, other options, and how to find the cheapest cover. 

To answer the above question about needing mobile phone insurance, we have to take a look at what the policy will do for you.  First of all mobile phone insurance is unlike other insurances because it is not based on age, sex, work, income, or other demographics.  Instead it is based on your claims history with the mobile phone company.  Usually mobile phone insurance is the same price for all consumers.  In other words you tend to subsidise mobile phone consumers who may lose, damage, or otherwise harm their mobile phone by paying insurance because of the flat rate. 

You have to ask yourself when it comes to mobile phone insurance whether you are likely to have issues.  Are you going to lose the phone someplace?  Will the phone be damaged by a child in the house?  Is there a potential to have water damage?  

While most individuals would say no to this question, you have to consider when you carry your phone.  Do you have your phone attached to your belt?  Do you have a secure phone holder or do you just slide it into your pocket?  Do you leave your phone sitting at your desk or a table when you don’t use it?  Most people don’t think they will ever encounter a position where their phone is damaged, but then it happens.  They drop their phone in water, a baby gets a hold of it and damages it, or they leave it in a restaurant all because they have more important things on their minds.  The drawback is the cost to replace the phone. 

If you purchased a blackberry for £300 or more you definitely want insurance, even if nothing has happened in the past.  A free phone can still cost you upwards of £100 to replace.  So, yes, most of us do need mobile phone insurance.  Now there are certain types of packages you can purchase.  You can do the pay as you go option in which you pay a bit each month, and you can use the credit to purchase a new phone.  There are also contracts that allow you to pay a monthly fee that cover the cost if you lose or damage the phone.  

Self insurance is where you put money aside each month just in case you lose or damage the phone.  You can keep this in a savings account where it earns interest.  In this way you have the money in your own pocket in case you need it, and it earns you interest.  This is best for individuals who don’t think they will damage their phone.  It is also very hard for most individuals to do, making the mobile phone insurance from a mobile phone company the wiser option. 

Your mobile phone company will offer insurance.  You can purchase the insurance with the contract, and probably pay up to £5 a month.  This is what most consumers do when they purchase mobile phone insurance.  You also have the ability to compare mobile phone insurance companies on the net.  When you do this, you can find independent companies that may offer as little as £1.5 a month.  The drawback to these cheaper insurance companies is that they may not cover the full replacement of the phone.  They may even have a lower coverage option that does little to protect you.  

The key to mobile phone insurance is research.  By researching the different companies you can find the one that works best for price as well as coverage.  You also want to look out for scammers, as they do exist on the internet.  With mobile phone insurance you can elect what is covered when you go with an independent company.  In this way you may protect for damage and not loss.  You could also add something like fraudulent use coverage which would help pay the minutes used if the phone was used fraudulently.

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